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Another possible beauty on ther Lower West Side

As high-end residential development in the former Printing District continues to boom, the latest new project is reportedly slated for the site of an open-air parking lot just north of Canal St., between Hudson and Renwick Sts. According to real estate sources, the site, which was owned by the Mandelbaum family of New Jersey, was recently sold to a development group including Apollo and Metropolitan Housing Partners, the same partners that developed the new 505 Greenwich St., a 104-apartment condo building, a block away. Asking price for the Hudson Sq. property was reportedly in the range of $170 per sq. ft. for about 70,000 sq. ft. of buildable space. Jane Gladstein, principal of Metropolitan Housing Partners, would not say if the property has been purchased. “I can confirm that we’re involved in the project, but it’s very premature,” she said.

The building at 173-175 East Broadway that once housed The Forward newspaper is for sale for $22 million, and the broker handling the property says it is likely to be turned into luxury apartments.

Karl Marx, whose bearded face appears in bas relief above the building's entrance, wrote that all the most significant events in history occur twice — the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. If Marx were still around he might feel vindicated to know that, where socialists once roamed the halls, yuppies may soon act out a materialism of a very different sort than the one contemplated by their predecessors.

The Forward, which was printed in Yiddish and once had a daily circulation as high as 220,000 (it is now a much smaller weekly), occupied the building from 1912, when it was built, until 1974. At that time, the newspaper and the radical Jewish groups that once traveled with it decamped to East 33rd Street. The newspaper sold the 10-story building for $99,000 to the Chinese Alliance Church.

Three years later, the church sold the 11-story building for $316,000 to a businessman named Mui Hin Lau, whose family has owned it ever since.

The family's broker, Adelaide Polsinelli of Besen &amp; Associates, said the building has remained vacant since the church moved out, in the late 1970's or early 1980's.

In the late 1990's, the family spent about $10 million on a gut renovation that created 39 apartments. Finally, in September 2001, the Laus were ready to market the new units as condos, but then abandoned their plans after the terror attack on the World Trade Center. Now, with downtown real estate booming, the Laus have decided to sell, and Ms. Polsinelli said she expects the building will be acquired by a developer and marketed as high-end apartments.

On the heels of its success with building the Time Warner Center condominiums, which pop stars and financial mavens have snapped up for record prices, developer Related Cos. is entering the residential sales business.

Related executives are starting a division that will market and sell the company's three latest Manhattan condominium projects: 445 Lafayette St., 215 E. 96th St. and a building on Roosevelt Island. Related also has three confirmed and three unscheduled projects in New York and Boston for which it will handle sales.

The Sunshine Group, which has sold Related's luxury condos in the Time Warner Center, will finish selling the building's remaining residences and then Related will cut its ties to the brokerage firm. Related President Susan de Franca, a former Sunshine Group executive, will take over sales through the new division.

"The formation of this new company is a natural progression," says David Wine, vice chairman of Related.

By taking its condo sales in-house, Related hopes to capitalize on the relationships that it already has with its rental tenants who have asked about buying Related condos.

It's a business model that Donald Trump has used successfully and profitably. "It's really cost-effective to do it that way if you hire the right people," says the developer of Trump Park Avenue, among other properties.

In a move that will double its student housing, the Fashion Institute of Technology has bought a 320,000-square-foot building on the far West Side that it will turn into dormitory space. The school paid $48 million for the former manufacturing and office building and plans a $64 million renovation to convert it into housing for 1,100 students.

The building, which is located on 31st Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues, is expected to be finished and open as a dorm in August 2006, making it one of the first new construction projects on the far West Side. The project is being funded through the sale of $144.5 million in bonds.

FIT currently enrolls 11,000 students, 6,500 of them full-time, but only has 1,200 beds available in residence halls.

Plaza sold & will go part-condo

$675M price tag for landmark Plaza Hotel (lower l.) means new owner’s paying highest price per room in city history.

There's room for change at The Plaza: A Saudi prince is selling the hotel to an Israeli company that is expected to convert some rooms to pricey apartments.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the fourth-richest man in the world, is unloading the Fifth Ave. landmark for the royal sum of $675 million.

That comes out to $838,000 per room, the highest ever for a New York City hotel.

It's worth it, analysts said.

"What better address to have than The Plaza's?" said Sean Hennessey of Lodging Investment Advisors.

"This is a landmark with international recognition. You'd go there because it's a place you'd seen in a movie."

Visitors might remember it from "Plaza Suite," "North by Northwest," "The Great Gatsby" or "The Way We Were."

Little girls still clamor to have tea in the Palm Court like the fictional Eloise who lived in the hotel.

The new buyer, Elad Properties, is an American arm of Elad Hotels Ltd., which owns hotels throughout Israel.

Because The Plaza has 805 rooms - instead of the 200 to 400 in the typical luxury hotel - it has never been able to charge top dollar.

Turning some of its rooms into apartments will give the hotel, which lost $1.8 million last year, a needed boost to the bottom line, according to the plan.

The condos are expected to command $2,000 per square foot, industry insiders said.

Prior owner Donald Trump had similar conversion plans but never carried them out. The megamogul sold The Plaza for $325 million in 1995 to the Saudi prince and a partner, Millennium &amp; Copthorne Hotels.

Elad Properties is considered the right firm to take part of the hotel condo. Elad is known in Manhattan not as a hotelier but as a skilled converter of old buildings into elegant apartments, such as 21 Astor Place.

Besides making a bundle on apartment sales, Elad will be able to raise hotel rates once some of the rooms are taken out of service, said Hennessey, the hotel analyst.

Though Bin Talal is selling the property - at Fifth and Central Park South - he'll continue to own some important pieces of New York.

He is the largest shareholder of Manhattan-based Citigroup. And he has a stake in Four Seasons Hotels - whose famous Manhattan property is just a few blocks from The Plaza.

400 Park Avenue South

New York City County – The New York City Planning Commission, as lead agency, has determined that the proposed 400 Park Avenue South (CEQR No. 04DCP058M, 040496ZMM, 040497 ZRY) will not have a significant adverse environmental impact. The action involves an application by 400 Park Avenue South, LLC, for the following actions in connection with the “400 Park Avenue South” development:

An amendment to the City Zoning Map to rezone the block bounded by Park Avenue South, Madison Avenue, E. 28th Street and E. 27th Street (Block 857, Lots 24, 38, 40 and 46) from C5–2 and C6–4A districts to a C5–3 zoning district;
A text amendment to Zoning Resolution (ZR) Section 74–721(a) to permit modifications of yard and court regulations and minimum distance between building and between legally required window to a wall or lot line in C5–3, C6–6 and C6–7 zoning districts; and
A special permit pursuant to the above amendment to ZR Section 74-721(a) for wavers of height, setback, courtyard, and minimum distance between building requirements.
The proposed actions would facilitate a proposal by the applicant to construct a 456,000 gross-square foot, 39 story, building containing approximately 342 dwelling units and 15,188 square feet of commercial space, on a site (“the project site”) located at 400 Park Avenue South, in the Park Avenue South neighborhood of Manhattan, Community District 5. The project site contains 73,591 square feet of lot area and is located in C6–4A and C5–2 zoning districts and is adjacent to the Madison Square North Historic District; adjacent the New York Life Building which is a National Historic Landmark and New York City Landmark; and above the 28th Street IRT subway station, which is eligible for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The project site is currently occupied by an 8–story predominantly vacant building (Lot 46); a 90-space public surface parking lot (Lot 40); and a 15–story office building (Lot 24). The proposed 400 Park Avenue South building development would be constructed on the portion of the site currently occupied by the parking lot and 8 story vacant building, which would be demolished; the 15 story office building would remain and its unused development rights would be incorporated into the proposed building. Construction of the building is expected to be completed by 2006. The existing 20 story office building located on Lot 38 would not be developed as a result of the proposed action.

Re: 400 Park Avenue South

New York City County – The New York City Planning Commission, as lead agency, has determined that the proposed 400 Park Avenue South (CEQR No. 04DCP058M, 040496ZMM, 040497 ZRY) will not have a significant adverse environmental impact. The action involves an application by 400 Park Avenue South, LLC, for the following actions in connection with the “400 Park Avenue South” development:

An amendment to the City Zoning Map to rezone the block bounded by Park Avenue South, Madison Avenue, E. 28th Street and E. 27th Street (Block 857, Lots 24, 38, 40 and 46) from C5–2 and C6–4A districts to a C5–3 zoning district;
A text amendment to Zoning Resolution (ZR) Section 74–721(a) to permit modifications of yard and court regulations and minimum distance between building and between legally required window to a wall or lot line in C5–3, C6–6 and C6–7 zoning districts; and
A special permit pursuant to the above amendment to ZR Section 74-721(a) for wavers of height, setback, courtyard, and minimum distance between building requirements.
The proposed actions would facilitate a proposal by the applicant to construct a 456,000 gross-square foot, 39 story, building containing approximately 342 dwelling units and 15,188 square feet of commercial space, on a site (“the project site”) located at 400 Park Avenue South, in the Park Avenue South neighborhood of Manhattan, Community District 5. The project site contains 73,591 square feet of lot area and is located in C6–4A and C5–2 zoning districts and is adjacent to the Madison Square North Historic District; adjacent the New York Life Building which is a National Historic Landmark and New York City Landmark; and above the 28th Street IRT subway station, which is eligible for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The project site is currently occupied by an 8–story predominantly vacant building (Lot 46); a 90-space public surface parking lot (Lot 40); and a 15–story office building (Lot 24). The proposed 400 Park Avenue South building development would be constructed on the portion of the site currently occupied by the parking lot and 8 story vacant building, which would be demolished; the 15 story office building would remain and its unused development rights would be incorporated into the proposed building. Construction of the building is expected to be completed by 2006. The existing 20 story office building located on Lot 38 would not be developed as a result of the proposed action.

New 40 story tower by the ESB

Sorry, I didn't see this posted in the Skyscrapers section, but I'll leave it here in Res'l until a Mod deletes it...
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GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: $190M Condo Will Rise in Midtownhttp://www.globest.com/news/111_111/.../126291-1.html
By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: Thursday, September 9, 2004 04:07pm

NEW YORK CITY-A $37.4-million bridge loan closed for 325 Fifth Ave., a 250-unit, 390,000-sf residential condominium project with an estimated development cost of $190 million.

Richard Bassuk, president of the Singer and Bassuk Organization, tells GlobeSt.com that the developers--a joint venture between Continental Properties, owned by the Fisch family, and Jeffrey Levine’s Douglaston Development--feel this project will “change the face of this Midtown area.” The site is between 32nd and 33rd streets. Work will begin shortly and the building is expected to be completed some time in early 2006.

“This should really stimulate development in this area,” says Bassuk, who has long-established relationships with both JV partners. In fact, he introduced them. He says the 40-story tower in the shadow of the Empire State Building is at the intersection of a number of Manhattan's prominent neighborhoods: Chelsea, Grammercy and and the Flatiron District. "It will really change the character of the neigborhood."

HSBC Bank provided the bridge loan to facilitate the acquisition and start of development. “The substantial interest shown by HSBC is testimony to the project and its owners," Bassuk points out. Levine says Bassuk was “instrumental in obtaining the bridge loan we required to acquire the property and related development rights on highly advantageous terms.” Steven Fisch says it took SBO's "special expertise in coordinating the financing of a project with its development and construction requirements.”

SBO has obtained a $130-million construction loan and a $42-million mezzanine loan for the project. The 325 Fifth Ave. bridge loan transaction is the latest bridge-loan financing arranged recently for SBO clients. Recent SBO bridge loans have totaled more than $250 million in seven transactions.

ayor Michael R. Bloomberg is expected to announce today that the Enterprise Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Maryland, will make a $5 million investment in low-income housing in New York, part of a plan that the city hopes will eventually generate as much as $1 billion for such housing.

If realized, the full investment would help create 10,000 housing units and rehabilitate 5,000 more, with several thousand units set aside for elderly people. The total would include 2,500 units of supportive housing - housing with intensive social services - which was earlier announced by the mayor as part of an ambitious plan to overhaul the system for the homeless.

For Mr. Bloomberg, the total of 15,000 units would constitute a sizable chunk of the 65,000 units of housing that he promised to build or rehabilitate within five years. That pledge, made in December 2002, represents the most ambitious housing plan the city has tackled since the Koch administration.

For Enterprise, a national anti-poverty group that helps low-income families with housing, employment and other services, the pledge represents a major commitment to a city in which it has always been active. In the last 15 years, Enterprise's investments have produced $1 billion to construct or refurbish 15,000 units in New York.

"What we are doing over the next five years is what we did in the last 15," said Vicky Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Enterprise. "It's a very intensive level based on what the demand really is. It is also largely because two years ago the mayor charged the housing industry to step up to the plate and meet this demand."

As word about the pledge reached housing groups around the city in recent days, many developers, former housing officials and nonprofit groups said that they were thrilled. They also said that Mr. Bloomberg's official announcement, to be made during a luncheon speech at an Enterprise conference in Midtown Manhattan, would inspire other private groups to follow suit.

But these same industry officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do business with the city, wondered whether the city was leaning too heavily on one organization, even one with a good reputation like Enterprise. Several officials said it might be more financially advantageous to open up the process to competitive bidding.

Industry officials also noted that Rafael E. Cestero, who became deputy commissioner of development for the City Department of Housing Preservation and Development in August, had previously been director of Enterprise's New York office.

According to city and Enterprise officials, Enterprise plans to offer $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations for training and technical assistance. Under the city's plan, another $295 million would come from low-interest loans, presumably borrowed by Enterprise from banks, foundations and pension funds, and then lent to nonprofit developers.

The biggest chunk of the city's plan, $700 million, would come from corporations and private investors seeking to take advantage of the federal low-income housing tax credit, which has helped finance virtually all of the rental units for low-income residents in the United States in the last two decades.

Each year, every state receives tax credits from the federal government to stimulate housing construction. The state allocates the credits to specific projects proposed by competing developers. Those developers, who work with community groups, then sell the credits to companies and investors, whose cash they use to start the projects, through intermediaries called syndicators. Enterprise is one such syndicator.

In interviews in recent days, some housing professionals said that they had questions about the finances and accounting underlying the proposal. In particular, some said that the mayor's housing plan was already counting on using some of those tax credits for housing.

"Some of the $1 billion is new money and some is money the city already had access to," said Doug Turetsky, a spokesman for the city's Independent Budget Office.

When asked for more details, city and Enterprise officials said that they would elaborate after Mr. Bloomberg's speech.

Still, many housing professionals also said that any vagueness over the details should not detract from a private organization's investing in urban housing, rather than pulling out.

"Anytime anybody steps up, especially from the private sector, with any kind of serious commitment like this, it's a good thing," said Joseph Weisbord, staff director of Housing First!, a coalition of civic, business and labor groups.